The Nelson Mandela Bay Civil Society Coalition welcomes the firm and necessary stance taken by Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) in holding the executive leadership of Nelson Mandela Bay accountable for the deteriorating state of the metro, describing the recent engagement as a necessary and long-overdue moment of accountability.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the metro’s executive leadership appeared before the Committee after being summoned to account for widely reported governance and service delivery failures. This engagement marks a critical step in reinforcing oversight and ensuring that the severity of the situation in Nelson Mandela Bay is fully ventilated at a national level. It also affirms what civil society has consistently raised: the challenges facing the metro are neither new nor unforeseen – they are well known, extensively documented and long-standing.
What has emerged with greater clarity through this process is the widening disconnect between planning and implementation. While plans, strategies and diagnostic reports exist, delivery continues to fall short. At the core of the crisis is a systemic failure of execution. The municipality is not short of insight or frameworks; it is falling short in its ability to implement effectively, consistently and with accountability. This is further compounded by a governance environment in which responsibility is diffused – where many are involved, but no one is held fully accountable.
The Coalition notes that the issues raised during the Parliamentary engagement closely mirror long-standing concerns repeatedly highlighted by Civil Society. These include the urgent need for decisive intervention in both political and administrative leadership, instability in the City Manager position, and persistent dysfunction within supply chain management systems.
The sentiment expressed during the Committee proceedings regarding the Executive Mayor’s apparent unwillingness to fully account on key matters is particularly concerning. It reinforces the frustrations of Civil Society, especially given its good-faith efforts to work collaboratively with the city’s leadership. As recently as 9 February 2026, the Coalition met with municipal leadership and collectively resolved to establish a joint technical team to develop an action plan to support the city’s recovery. The lack of meaningful progress since then raises serious concerns about accountability and commitment to reform.
Crucially, the Coalition rejects any suggestion that the metro’s decline is primarily a function of financial constraints. The evidence points instead to sustained political interference in municipal operations, procurement inefficiencies and blockages, and a steady erosion of professional and technical capacity. Without addressing these structural issues, no financial intervention alone will resolve the crisis.
Nelson Mandela Bay is now facing a deepening service delivery emergency. The metro’s water and infrastructure systems are under severe strain, with dam levels sitting at approximately 30% usable water and unaccounted-for water losses reaching an alarming 63%, the highest in the country. Electricity infrastructure remains unstable due to inadequate maintenance and insufficient protection of key assets, resulting in repeated supply disruptions.
These failures are not abstract, they have direct and severe economic and social consequences. The Parliamentary process must now translate into decisive action. The Coalition calls on the Presidency to urgently institute a structured, time-bound and outcomes-driven intervention to stabilise governance, restore infrastructure maintenance and safeguard the constitutional rights of residents.
Nelson Mandela Bay has reached a tipping point. The time for diagnosis has long passed, what is required now is decisive and accountable execution. This is no longer a matter of incremental improvement – it is an emergency.
The Coalition further reiterates that appropriate processes must be triggered to ensure full investigation and accountability for the issues raised. It also expresses its willingness to formally engage with the Portfolio Committee and would welcome the opportunity to present, in detail, the concerns it has consistently raised, concerns that ultimately necessitated escalation to the Office of the President for urgent intervention.
